In a world with an intellectual history of seven thousand years behind it, where do Pakistanis stand, what are they doing, what do they aspire to be, and what ought they to be doing? This Blog takes Notes of all of that ...

Sunday, February 3, 2013

State Aristocracy’s Pakistan – 16: Make a fake project and plunder the tax money of the citizens

Enver
Baig’s 2008 report on ‘Tawana Pakistan’ still not implemented

ISLAMABAD:
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) took almost four years to probe
multi-billion scam of Tawana Pakistan Project and is still probing, but a
Senate sub-committee headed by former Senator Enver Baig in September 2008 had
investigated the scam and identified all the accused involved in it. However,
the findings were dumped in the Senate Secretariat since 2008 and government
did not touch it. During his tenure as a senator, Enver Baig continued to raise
hue and cry for taking action against all accused on the basis of his report,
but all proved to be a cry in the wilderness.

The
sub-committee of the Senate Committee on Social Welfare headed by former
Senator Enver Baig had recommended to the government to take stern action to
recover the embezzled public money which was spent on purchase through
fictitious bills and by violating the rules, regulations, procedure and law.

Tawana
Pakistan Project of Rs3.6 billion was launched during Musharraf regime to
provide nutrient milk to schools of the least developed areas but it was turned
into mega scandal in which billions were siphoned off by the top officials. Baig,
who headed the Senate sub-committee and conducted the probe in 2008, and found
out that the project money was siphoned off to the refurbishment of ministry’s
offices, ministers’ residence, fictitious billing on car maintenances, bogus
TA/DAs, inflated telephone bills, unauthorised medical treatment,
refurbishments of rented office accommodations at prohibitive high prices.

In
its report Enver Baig committee had recommended in September 2008, that the FIA
should take immediate and stern action to recover the embezzled Public money
which was spent on purchase through fictitious bills and by violating the
rules, regulations, procedures and law. Enver Baig’s sub committee had also
recommended that the advances extended to the officers / officials working in
the project may also be recovered without further waste of time.

The
sub committee had also recommended that the role of Zubeda Jalal, who was
Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education, needs to be investigated
without which the objectives of the whole exercise would not be met. According to minutes of the sub-committee
headed by Enver Baig available to The News, Managing Director Pakistan Baitul
Mall Zamurrad Khan had also appeared before the committee and criticised this
project and said that this project remained in existence for about 20 months
and Rs600 million were spent out of which Rs180 million were utilised for the
real purpose and the balance of Rs420 million were embezzled by 20 to 25
persons.

Zamurrad
Khan had informed the committee that millions of rupees were illegally paid in
cash to individuals ignoring all government rules and regulations and Rs200
million in cash was granted to M/s Vita Bread (EMS) and M/s Maza.

Former
Secretary Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education G M Sikandar had
told the sub-committee that M/s Vita Bread (EMS) was approved by former
Secretary Naeem Khan whereas Maza was approved by the Project Director
Irfanullah Khan. The main accused in the
Tawana Pakistan Project Irfanullah Khan is still an absconder and NAB had
failed to arrest him so far.

While
giving the background of Project Director of the TPP Irfanullah Khan to the
sub-committee headed by Enver Baig in 2008, Dr Aleem Mehmood, former Secretary,
had told the committee that a post of grade-20 was created for which the
minimum criteria was PHD degree or its equivalent but Irfanullah Khan was
appointed though he did not fulfil the requirement and even he was not fit for
job as per medical report of Brig Moadat Rana, Psychiatrist, MH Rawalpindi. But
this person had many high-level contacts and bout 60 percent cases are still
pending against him,” Dr Aleem had told the Enver Baig’s committee.

It
is to be mentioned that the NAB Rawalpindi arrested Tanveer Hussain Manji
Director, Vita Pakistan Ltd, who had caused a loss of Rs160 million approximately
to the public exchequer in Tawana Pakistan Project of defunct ministry of
social welfare in the award of contract of milk to M/s EM-5 Nutraceutical Pvt
Ltd. Illegal grain was provided to M/S Vita Pakistan Limited and M/s Chen

The Blogger

The blogger cherishes a cosmopolitan spirit; he is a moralist; a rationalist; a philosopher; a political philosopher; he believes in Classical Liberalism, as a Theory of Conduct.
He has substantially contributed to the founding of the first free market think tank of Pakistan, Alternate Solutions Institute.
He is a writer who wrote / published dozens of articles on a variety of issues, and is author of 4 books.
He wrote / published short-stories in Punjabi, a regional language of Pakistan.
He composes poetry both in Urdu and Punjabi, and has already published one collection.